Tag Archives: newspapers

Who gets to decide who is in your family? In the US at least, the answer to that in many cases is… NOT you! The definition of family is determined at a legal level for a variety of purposes, such as healthcare benefits and hospital visitation. Many of these issues, of course, have been at the heart of the fight over same sex marriage rights.

Now, a family in Connecticut find themselves on the forefront of another aspect of this fight over the definition of “family,” that of zoning laws and housing rights.

Win-Win-Win!

Remember: In the month of August, if you purchase a service from me I’ll donate half of my usual fee (still sliding scale) to a cause of your choice, in honor of Deanna Silverkrow. Contact me (unchartedlove[at]gmail{dot}com) to set up a time. Phone or Skype/Google anywhere in the world, or in-person in the SF East Bay.

thought folks here would be interested in Alan M’s new “List of Polyamory Events,” which covers the “larger” events around the US and elsewhere in the world. He’d be very pleased if you’d bring his attention to any other such events that you might know of.

I’ll be adding this and a few other aggregation links to my Resources pages in the next few days.

I wonder how polyamory affects these transmitter levels? We’re often, for instance, “in love” with one partner (Yay, New Relationship Energy!), but not with three other partners (whom we probably love very much, but aren’t experiencing that chemical rush with anymore).

What’s your personal experience? Any opinions as to how these chemicals might behave in a polyamorous person? Enquiring minds want to know… :^)

friend of mine forwarded this letter from Anne Thomas in Sendai to me in e-mail. If by some chance you have not read it yet, I highly recommend it. In addition to a much-needed ray of hope in a time of chaos, confusion, disaster and anxiety, I also see in it the marks of “Love outside the box,” and “Uncharted Love.” Anne and those around her are forced step outside of the “norms” imposed by modern society, to experience each other as whole and complete human beings despite loss and grief and dirt and pain. She talks about sharing:

I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful.

and then later:

People keep saying, “Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.”

She talks of strangers asking each other–and meaning it–‘how are you?’ Of people reaching out to each other, and banding together:

And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there.

We humans are not meant to be isolated, locked in our individual lives, never touching others. We are meant to be in groups, and in tribes, working together, playing together, loving together. Anne speaks to this in the closing paragraphs of her letter:

Somehow at this time I realize from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don’t. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.

Thank you again for your care and Love of me,

With Love in return, to you all,
Anne

My question to you here today is this: How can we, still living life day to day–as if everything is “normal,” as if separation is our destiny, as if somehow in the midst of billions of people we are actually “alone”–how can we also experience this sense of love and connection and understand that we are all “Separated by the world, yet bound by love“? Does it always take an earthquake, a tsunami, a tornado, a flood, or a fire? Or maybe, just maybe, could we simply reach out our hands, grasp another, and say “I love you” and thus begin to “be the change we wish to see in the world“?

Here is your challenge: Today, reach out to someone you don’t know, someone you wouldn’t normally talk to perhaps, give them your hand if they’ll take it, smile, and tell them “I love you.” Maybe ask them how they are–and actually listen to the answer. If you are so moved, come back and tell me what happened.

A great local article just appeared in the student-run newspaper, City on a Hill Press, in Santa Cruz, CA. (Thanks, Larry, for letting me know it had appeared!) The article quotes me extensively, and also uses quotes from a number of other local people. The link to the article is here, and I’m including the full text below the cut, as well as a comment that I made (with permission, in case the link ever goes bad).

I welcome your responses to this article. Do you think polyamory is on the rise? Do you agree that societal assumptions about monogamy get in the way of being able to choose polyamory?

Links: Sex

Who is Dawn Davidson?

“I’m speaking up for those who feel lost and alone, and who’ve been rejected by others for core pieces of their being, whether that’s paganism, poly, their bodies, kink, or whatever. I’m here to say “you are not alone,” and “you are fine, just the way you are,” and hand you some tools and roadmaps.”

What do YOU need to be heard about?

LoveOTB@gmail.com or 510-686-3386.

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